Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 3, 2026

Combining Fluidic Devices with Microscopy and Flow Cytometry to Study Microbial Transport in Porous Media Across Spatial Scales
Published on: November 25, 2020
Multiscale modelling of hydraulic conductivity in vuggy porous media
1School of Engineering Science , University of Southampton , Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
Abstract:
Flow in both saturated and non-saturated vuggy porous media, i.e. soil, is inherently multiscale. The complex microporous structure of the soil aggregates and the wider vugs provides a multitude of flow pathways and has received significant attention from the X-ray computed tomography (CT) community with a constant drive to image at higher resolution. Using multiscale homogenization, we derive averaged equations to study the effects of the microscale structure on the macroscopic flow. The averaged model captures the underlying geometry through a series of cell problems and is verified through direct comparison to numerical simulations of the full structure. These methods offer significant reductions in computation time and allow us to perform three-dimensional calculations with complex geometries on a desktop PC. The results show that the surface roughness of the aggregate has a significantly greater effect on the flow than the microstructure within the aggregate. Hence, this is the region in which the resolution of X-ray CT for image-based modelling has the greatest impact.
Related Concept Videos
Typical Model Studies
Capillarity in Fluid
Surface tension is crucial to capillarity. It results from cohesive forces between liquid molecules at the liquid-air boundary, forming a skin that resists external forces. When the capillary tube...
Design Example: Creating a Hydraulic Model of a Dam Spillway
Modeling and Similitude
Permeability of Concrete
Gradually Varying Flow

